Psalm 106:13 They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. 15 And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
[Counsels on diet and foods. pp. 375>377] By departing from the plan divinely appointed for their diet, the Israelites suffered great loss. They desired a flesh diet, and they reaped its results. They did not reach God's ideal of character or fulfill His purpose. The Lord “gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” They valued the earthly above the spiritual, and the sacred preeminence which was His purpose for them they did not attain. The Lord plainly told His people that every blessing would come to them if they would keep His commandments, and be a peculiar people. He warned them through Moses in the wilderness, specifying that health would be the reward of obedience. The state of the mind has largely to do with the health of the body, and especially with the health of the digestive organs. As a general thing, the Lord did not provide His people with flesh meat in the desert, because He knew that the use of this diet would create disease and insubordination. In order to modify the disposition, and bring the higher powers of the mind into active exercise, He removed from them the flesh of dead animals.
“And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and, as it were, two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails. He that gathered least gathered ten homers, and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
In this instance the Lord gave the people that which was not for their best good, because they would have it. They would not submit to receive from the Lord those things which would prove for their good. They gave themselves up to seditious murmurings against Moses, and against the Lord, because they did not receive those things which would prove an injury to them. Their depraved appetites controlled them, and God gave them flesh meats, as they desired, and He let them suffer the results of gratifying their lustful appetites.
As a general rule of thumb, God does not prevent us from having that which we continue to clamor for, because He has given us the freedom of intelligent choice, and thus it will be contrary to His character of love to deny us that which we deliberately choose. However, there must be no misgivings in our minds concerning the natural laws of cause and effect, for if we choose to walk contrary to what God has given for our best good, then when diseases and afflictions come upon us, and the enemy hedges us in with maladies as a result of our course of action, we must not expect God to deliver us when we cry, for He is under no obligation to hear or answer us in such situations.
This does not mean that He will never hear or heal, what it means is that our expectations must be in line with our deliberate choices, and then if He chooses to deliver us when we knowingly sin, then that will be His prerogative. We therefore end with a passage of scripture which cautions us against harboring unreasonable expectations of God, and we hope and pray that the sad failures of the past would not be repeated in our own experiences. Let's read:
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
May God add His blessing to the study and practice of His word. "Good night" and God bless!